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30.11.2017

With skill and passion

What are the challenges facing manufacturers? Why are there only a few apprentices in manufacturing occupations and why is it so difficult to find suitable skilled workers? How can one counteract the extinction of manufacturing occupations? We discussed this topic with our member, the Rotter Glas manufactory.


Sustainability and quality - that's what manufactories stand for. They create jobs and are an important economic factor for the region. A great cultural merit of manufactories is the preservation of rare crafts and forgotten manufacturing processes.


Manufactory occupations are often rare and mostly unknown occupations. Some manufacturing professions are threatened with extinction. Career starters and potential trainees often don't even know which trades are still available and what it means to practice such a profession at all. Therefore, Rotter Glas takes the first steps to counteract this and to transmit its craft: school classes visit the manufactory regularly, including classes of the Design-Schule Hamburg. In this way, pupils and students can get an impression of the manufacturing profession; see how the manufactory works and which skills belong to such a profession.


At the same time, it is not easy for manufacturers to recruit and train new employees. One of the biggest challenges is personnel planning. It is not easy to decide whether to employ trainees at all: "The training for a glass grinder takes two years. Then you start learning "Rotter". After seven additional years, you will have enough skill and experience to create and perfect new designs. All in all, we must therefore plan up to ten years in advance how many employees we will need in the future, which is almost impossible," says entrepreneur Birgit Rotter.


With currently two trainees, Rotter Glas already has to consider what the situation of the company will be like in ten years' time. Are two apprentices enough? Do they want to stay in the company after your training? If not, this can lead to considerable problems. "In northern Germany we will not be able to get a new glass grinder at short notice. Conversely, it is unfortunately also true that if our order situation is poor and we cannot take on trainees, they are left without a job and will not be able to find a new one here in the region so quickly. There are not many glass refinement factories here in Schleswig-Holstein," says Birgit Rotter. All the factories concentrated in one location - would this perhaps be a solution to the problems of the factories? Help each other out with specialists, support each other in times of crisis and thus preserve German cultural heritage?  Unfortunately, it is not that simple. Each federal state has its own traditions, special materials and regional manufacturing companies that want to continue to carry out their craft in their own state.


The challenge is getting even more demanding with the fact that most of the manufacturing professions are often specialized on one product. An experienced glass grinder from Bavaria applied for a job with us, because some glass manufacturers switched to automatic and acid polishing at that time and therefore dismissed their glass grinders. Unfortunately, we couldn't hire him because he learned a completely different style," Birgit Rotter says.


Among pupils, unfortunately, training in crafts comes currently often after commercial occupations. Many young people are discouraged from craft trades. It is well known that it is often hard and sometimes impossible to live by the manufacturing profession alone. Too little subsidies are provided by the government, "explains Birgit Rotter. The challenge of a fluctuating order situation is a daily routine for manufactories. In contrast to Germany, craft enterprises in France or Scandinavia are regarded and subsidized as cultural assets, so that they can survive times of crisis and so that cultural assets and the diversity that enriches our culture can be brought into the world. Is it possible to counteract the extinction of craft trades in that way?


It is essential that manufactories stick together and form a strong voice before politics. Birgit Rotter has a very clear opinion on this: "Together we can wake up politicians and make them clear that there will be consequences of losing manufactories as employers, economic factors and cultural assets. We can change society's thinking: back from mass production to individual goods; we can show the passion behind a product and draw attention to craft trades. We are a member of the Initiative Deutsche Manufakturen, because we can profit from each other and must keep together. Who will benefit from a Rotter Glas if there is no matching plate, cutlery and table linen?"


< Each glass a unique piece

 
 

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